Scoring the world’s problems… ;)

Scoring the world’s problems… ;) 9 July 2009

Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, DC Politics, Divertissements, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Italy.
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I laughed pretty hard over this one! (AGF/La Repubblica)

and even more over this one… tho the thread dwellers at HuffMuffPo are working hard to say he is looking at the floor. 😆

(AGF/La Repubblica)

…. Berlusconi and Medvedev appear in stages of reverie.. or standing coma? 😈

Self induced from loss of opportunity with the young lady?

This G-8 fell so flat — not that others had magical leavening! Aside from escorting people, via new paved roads, to a bizarre, quick construct marble faced media and seminar venue, mounted over a swimming pool, adorned with terraces where media were served Italian delicacies and wines (Margaret Warner PBS), a half court constructed just for Ob (Berlusconi loves you baby!) so he could play ball (Play Ball!), forget where I read that tidbit.

And all the while those made homeless by the earthquake are still in tents.

Oh Michelle wore yellow and white to tour the RUINS. J Crew and Liz Claiborne…

The modern ruins, mind you. They grace us, that we are allowed to see their [all but] royal images.

Comments»

1. outofwater - 9 July 2009: The warlock is dead!

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marisacat - 9 July 2009: hey hey oow, how are you?

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outofwater - 10 July 2009: Hey, hey indeed. I’m doing well. What little interest in politics that still possessed me was obliterated by Obama. I still occasionally check DK for the same reason people ask about former coworkers who they have no interest in seeing ever again.

As pathological as Dana was, his departure marks the end of anything outside rigid mainstream parameters permissible at BigO. Dana lasted as long as he did because he was seen as an effective enforcer of the dogma When it became clear he couldn’t even accomplish that, he was departed.

How’s everything with you?

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: pretty good oow…

What little interest in politics that still possessed me was obliterated by Obama.

Oh Ob. I expected a tragedy…. and I got a bigger than tragedy than I had expected. Not much to add to the moving disaster that he is..

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outofwater - 10 July 2009: A little to add–we were doomed no matter which of the front runners was elected. You’d have to go to the third tier to find a came close to understanding what went wrong, much less how to fix it.

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: oh i agree. There was and is no one. As to third tier… hmm … all I would say is that I think there are some ideas, less so now than in the past, incubated at the state level, in some states. About it. Some ideas have a half life, til funding gets pulled. I would go no farther.

EVERYBODY with a quarter of a brain knows it is dead at the Federal level. Dead at the State House level… pretty much dead in most cities at the City Hall level… But for shoveling money to cronies. Who then, or their fixers, make ti to the WH.

Ob and his Oblings are no different. Nor did they start out differently.

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outofwater - 10 July 2009: Now what?

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2. BooHooHooMan - 9 July 2009: LOL. Great pics..
Popey meets Hopey tomorrow.
Ob better watch his own ass tomorrow.

Speaking of Ass Watch – and liars on the make….

I’m Taking a Break From DKos to Take Out Michele Bachmann
by Dana Houle

About six and a half years ago I discovered Daily Kos. It was shortly after the 2002 election, and I was hooked. There was a bunch of campaign talk, but what really sucked me in were the posts by Markos and the late Steve Gilliard on the idiocy of the war and the horrible planning they were reporting even before the invasion in March 2003. I started commenting in threads—there were no diaries in those days—and within a few months, Markos asked me to become what was then called a guest blogger, and has since become known as a contributing editor.

Daily Kos has been a constant in my life over these last six years. I love the community, I love having an incredible platform for my writing, I love the interaction my pieces generate, and I love being able to combine my contributions to DKos with my work as a political professional electing and serving Democrats.

I’ve worked in a state legislature, for labor unions, on Capitol Hill, and on campaigns. Since I’ve been at Daily Kos, I’ve done several campaigns; I worked in Louisiana helping legislative candidates, I worked for Wesley Clark, I helped run the campaign against Michigan’s idiotic marriage amendment, and I’ve managed two successful races against incumbent Republican Congressmen.

My next challenge is to take out a third member of Congress: Minnesota Republican Michele Bachman.

Over the years I’ve done races, I’ve never written or commented on Daily Kos about anything on which I was directly involved; while managing the campaigns of Paul Hodes and Jim Himes—now Democratic Congressmen from, respectively, New Hampshire and Connecticut—I didn’t comment on their races. I keep my blogging and my professional work separate. But we’re now codifying what’s always been the practice, and as you can see from my Daily Kos bio, I’m now officially on leave from my duties as a contributing editor to the site.

I will still be around, however.

Like shit on a heel.

I won’t be involved in any of the administrative activities of the site, but I’ll probably still write an occasional piece as a featured writer, at least until the campaign really heats up and I’m working 80 hours a week. And I’ll still be commenting in threads and participating in the community.

But for the next 16 months, my obligations lie in doing whatever I can to elect Elwyn Tinklenberg to Congress and relieving Michele Bachmann of her duties so she can spend more time warning Americans of the threats posed by the US Census Bureau. …..

{all Blockbuster Movie Trailer voice- }

One candidate.
Elwin Tinklenberg.
One malignant narcissist for a “campaign manager”.
The Peter Principle personified:
Dana Houle.

Two words:
Fuckin TOAST.

::

The milker has laminated his boney ass to another stool, I see.
Well, at least long enough to dust off “The guy with the funny name” playbook while drawing a paycheck thru midterms, In Obs “Historic election” Bachman won 50 / 42. LOL. And that was WITHOUT Houle. {Snerk}

Wait till Bachmans peeps go through the opps research on Dana.
Oh Lordy. After Tinklenberg has made vitriol and judgement an issue.
Way to hire ’em there, Ed.

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marisacat - 9 July 2009: … as a political professional electing and serving Democrats.

Oh that is just plain funny. A bevy of Donald Segretti wanna-bees.

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marisacat - 9 July 2009: Elwyn via Google search.

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catnip - 10 July 2009: Elwin Tinklenberg.

That’s a Tim Burton fictional character, right?

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: .. should be………………………

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AlanSmithee - 10 July 2009: Sadly, no. That’s the rightwing democrat the DFL has been trying to foist on the 5th district since dinosaurs roamed the earth.

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: A true pick in the mold of Rahm and Bill, they distinguished themselves in the 2006 run… war heroes (!), pro life and fuck ups is what they put up.. So classic. 😈

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AlanSmithee - 10 July 2009: Ohhhhh, I’d almost forgotten. Fightin’ Dems! About four of the 80 or so actually got elected. Way to go, Rahm!

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NYCO - 10 July 2009: LOL, catnip.

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3. BooHooHooMan - 9 July 2009: Barf. Dana Houle all cutesy and smiley like.
A few comments in from his piece where he takes pains to, uh LIE about keeping his ‘professional’ political hack life scam seperate from his blogging scam. Dig the cutesy smiley. GMAFB.

I Think You Just Voluntered to Organize… (55+ / 0-)

…a meetup of Minnesotan Kossacks!

Thanks!! 😉

“Dignified people, without a whimsical streak, almost never offer fresh insights, in economics or anywhere else.” Paul Krugman

by Dana Houle on Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 05:56:56 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

This is telling, too. Couched in a joke…not so much.

[Psst, Key to Campaign Management] (31+ / 0-)

[Getting people to do things for you, and if necessary, “volunteering” people to give or do things they didn’t realize they were going to give or do for you.]

Keep this between us, and don’t spread the secret around.

“Dignified people, without a whimsical streak, almost never offer fresh insights, in economics or anywhere else.” Paul Krugman

by Dana Houle on Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 06:35:19 PM PDT

Mr. Transparency is an easy read. Tho not as Houle intends.

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catnip - 10 July 2009: That may be the first comment thread he’s participated in in which he hasn’t been a complete fucking asshole throughout.

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4. marisacat - 10 July 2009: Amy Goodman on detention, not by the numbers.

Two Standards of Detention

Posted on Jul 8, 2009

By Amy Goodman

Scott Roeder, the anti-abortion zealot charged with killing Dr. George Tiller, has been busy. He called the Associated Press from the Sedgwick County Jail in Kansas, saying, “I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal.” Charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault, he is expected to be arraigned July 28. AP recently reported that Roeder has been proclaiming from his jail cell that the killing of abortion providers is justified. According to the report, the Rev. Donald Spitz of the Virginia-based Army of God sent Roeder seven pamphlets defending “defensive action,” or killing of abortion clinic workers.

Spitz’s militant Army of God Web site calls Roeder an “American hero,” proclaiming, “George Tiller would normally murder between 10 and 30 children … each day … when he was stopped by Scott Roeder.”

The site, with biblical quotes suggesting killing is justified, hosts writings by Paul Hill, who killed Dr. John Britton and his security escort in Pensacola, Fla., and by Eric Rudolph, who bombed a Birmingham, Ala., women’s health clinic, killing its part-time security guard.

On Spitz’s Web site, Rudolph continues to write about abortion: “I believe that deadly force is indeed justified in an attempt to stop it.”

Juxtapose Roeder’s advocacy from jail with the conditions of Fahad Hashmi.snip

After Amy details the Hasmi’s incarceration she turns to “eco terrorists”

Similarly, animal rights and environmental activists, prosecuted as “eco-terrorists,” have been shipped to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ new “communication management units” (CMUs). Andrew Stepanian was recently released and described for me the CMU as “a prison within the actual prison. … The unit doesn’t have normal telephone communication to your family … normal visits are denied … you have to make an appointment to make one phone call a week, and that needs to be done with the oversight of … a live monitor.”

Stepanian observed that up to 70 percent of CMU prisoners are Muslim—hence CMU’s nickname, “Little Guantanamo.” As with Hashmi, it seems that the U.S. government seeks to strip terrorism suspects of legal due process and access to the media—whether in Guantanamo or in the secretive new CMUs. The American Civil Liberties Union is suing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Bureau of Prisons over the CMUs.

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5. marisacat - 10 July 2009: 😆 Trouble in multi-partisan paradise.

[T]he unusually stark rebuke – from a Democratic White House to one of the House’s most prominent Democratic chairmen – illustrates the high stakes in play in the health reform negotiations, where the White House is seeing delays and trouble spots flaring up in the Senate and doesn’t need more problems on the House side, especially on a highly touted deal like the PhRMA one.

An Energy and Commerce Committee aide said Waxman appreciates the clarification from the White House, but emphasized that he is not bound by an agreement cut by the White House and Baucus and the drug industry.

There even seems to be ambiguity among the people who brokered the pharmaceutical deal over what was agreed to.

A source in Tuesday’s White House meeting said the drug industry has “an ironclad commitment from the highest levels of the White House” that the president won’t sign a bill that includes price controls favored by Waxman. But an administration source said that didn’t come up in the meeting with the drug companies. … snip…

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6. Intermittent Bystander - 10 July 2009: Meanwhile, at a high school in Saratoga County, NY, Joey the B did his valiant best to highlight home-grown talent: Say Cheese!

Notable quote from Gazette report:

The vice president singled out many of the local elected officials in the audience, including Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings.

“That’s a real job,” the vice president said. “I’d never take it, it’s too hard.”

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7. Intermittent Bystander - 10 July 2009: “Cuddles” the Veep gone to mod pod?

😉

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: ooops sorry! Out now………. 😉

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8. marisacat - 10 July 2009: Oh god… I just caught the tag end of a news report… One of the gay penguin pairs (I missed which one)… has been broken up. A widowed penguin stole one away.

So……………… was one bi-sexual? Or Questioning?

those tricky pengs.

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catnip - 10 July 2009: Yup. They’re bi. I remembered reading about that last year.

Unlike most humans, however, individual animals generally cannot be classified as gay or straight: an animal that engages in a same-sex flirtation or partnership does not necessarily shun heterosexual encounters. Rather many species seem to have ingrained homosexual tendencies that are a regular part of their society. That is, there are probably no strictly gay critters, just bisexual ones. “Animals don’t do sexual identity. They just do sex,” says sociologist Eric Anderson of the University of Bath in England.

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: “Animals don’t do sexual identity. They just do sex,” says sociologist Eric Anderson of the University of Bath in England.

what a relief! Which actually is what humans do as well, imo… but it would decimate “lifestyle” marketing… 😆

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9. catnip - 10 July 2009: Those G8 pics are hilarious. Our PM showed up late for the group pic – again. He’s turned into the laughingstock – G8 jester.

All eyes on the derriere!

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10. catnip - 10 July 2009: Dana looked into his eyes and saw his soul…

He’s Not Going to Be a Blue Dog (14+ / 0-)

I’ve had this conversation. It’s accurate to say he said that last time. But he’s not a Blue Dog, and he’s not going to be one.

We’ve discussed this, and the only caucus he’ll be a member of is the Democratic caucus.

As for the gubernatorial candidates, that won’t be determined until September 2010. That’s going to the primary.

“Dignified people, without a whimsical streak, almost never offer fresh insights, in economics or anywhere else.” Paul Krugman

by Dana Houle on Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 07:30:58 PM MDT

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: what bullshit. Really. Hell but for a small group, most of whom are useless.. they are ALL Bloooooooooo Dogs or New Democrats.

Not that it matters anymore

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11. catnip - 10 July 2009: Photo fallout:

A photograph has touched off a flurry of media commentary — and bad puns — after U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were caught casting their gaze in the direction of a passing teenager.

In the photo, the world leaders’ heads are turned to catch the “pink-satin-draped booty of a 17-year-old junior G8 delegate,” according to the New York Post, a shot that the Drudge Report website dubbed the “second stimulus package.” The girl is reported to be Mayora Tavares of Brazil, who was one of several junior delegates who had assembled for a group photograph.

The image, snapped by Jason Reed of Reuters, was displayed on numerous websites on Friday morning and caught the eye of European and American pundits and reporters, with Italy’s la Repubblica calling it “Lo sguardo indiscreto di Obama” (the indiscreet gaze of Obama) and La Nazion exclaiming, “Obama: Grazie Italia, splendido lavoro” (Thank you, Italy. Great job.). The Guardian in Britain cheekily referred to the “Ogle office” and TMZ.com made a point of mentioning that Obama “checked out the, er, sights” of Italy. The Evening Herald of Ireland asked, “Has Barack been taking lessons from Berlusconi?” a reference to Italy’s beleaguered prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who has come under increasing scrutiny over the collapse of his marriage and various sex scandals.

Still, others came to the defence of the president.

“On first glance, the snapshot appears to show President Obama caught in a moment of less than lofty analysis. But upon looking at the video, the moment might seem to appear quite innocent — one of those times when a picture can be misleading,” blogged Jake Tapper, an senior White House correspondent for ABC News. “The president was on a much higher step and was stepping down — so he looked down to assure his footing as the woman was walking up the stairs.”

Sure Tapper…uh huh…

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: well a fuller tape has surfaced… with context… this version shows that Ob was half turning to……………. clasp hands with another young woman and lead her down the stairs. One version said he “was responsible” for her.

Big Daddy.

Wimmens can only make it with male intervention to help them think… and walk.

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12. catnip - 10 July 2009: lol

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13. catnip - 10 July 2009: CMD’s Wendell Potter Featured on Bill Moyers Journal, Friday, July 10th

The Center for Media and Democracy’s Wendell Potter will be interviewed on the PBS TV program Bill Moyers Journal this Friday, July 10th, at 9PM Eastern time. (For exact times in your area check online).

CMD’s Wendell Potter Featured on Bill Moyers Journal, Friday, July 10th

The Center for Media and Democracy’s Wendell Potter will be interviewed on the PBS TV program Bill Moyers Journal this Friday, July 10th, at 9PM Eastern time. (For exact times in your area check online).

Wendell Potter, CMD’s Senior Fellow on Health Care, spent more than 20 years as a public relations executive for two large health insurers – Cigna and Humana – but left the industry after witnessing practices he felt harmed American health care consumers. In his own words:

“I am speaking out about how big for-profit insurers have hijacked our health care system and turned it into a giant ATM for Wall Street investors, and how the industry is using its massive wealth and influence to determine what is (and is not) included in the health care reform legislation members of Congress are now writing. I was in a unique position to see not only how Wall Street analysts and investors influence decisions insurance company executives make but also how the industry has carried out behind-the-scenes PR and lobbying campaigns to kill or weaken any health care reform efforts that threatened insurers’ profitability.”

Wendell first went public as an advocate for health care reform as the lead witness at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on June 24th. Since then he has been much in the news media. His TV interview with Bill Moyers will be his first extensive television interview in his new role as journalist and analyst on health care issues for CMD.

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: thanks for mentioning that I will try to remember to catch it… Just fell into a Tavis Smiley show.. that man is totally gone. It took years… and i dropped out on him for at least a couple.. but he had on a pure propagandist from a big Cleveland hospital that is at the center of planning for any health care. It’s all about marshalling the inmates. THEN he had on Pete Peterson of the Blackstone Group. Who has put millions behind killing Social Sec, of course they did not speak of that.

Gone. Totally.

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14. catnip - 10 July 2009: ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats: Current health bill not acceptable

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15. catnip - 10 July 2009: Slapwa: House overwhelmingly rejects signing statement

The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints.

House members approved an amendment by a 429-2 vote to have the Obama administration pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require a Treasury Department report on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) activities. The amendment to a 2010 funding bill for the State Department and foreign operations was proposed by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), but it received broad bipartisan support.

The conditions on World Bank and IMF funding were part of the $106 billion war supplemental bill that was passed last month. Obama, in a statement made as he signed the bill, said that he would ignore the conditions.

They would “interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations by directing the Executive to take certain positions in negotiations or discussions with international organizations and foreign governments, or by requiring consultation with the Congress prior to such negotiations or discussions,” Obama said in the signing statement.

Senior Democrats and Republicans railed against the notion that the president could ignore a law they had passed and he had signed.

“We do this not just on behalf of this institution, but on behalf of this democracy,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). “There’s kind of a unilateralism, an undemocratic, unreachable way about these signing statements.”

Ouch.

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: House members approved an amendment by a 429-2

Take a hint fella.

It has nto made it to headlines but over and over and over… Ob sends an idea to congress and says “write the bill mes freres”. Even with the so called Health Care mess. He arrived with No Plan. Despite running on a Plan… LOL. I was pretty sure Bill and Hill had no plan either (and i have read they did not, at all, have a plan 😆 ), in 92, but I was willing to take a chance. No more.

Such pantomime. You do that often enough to hacks and weeps and since few are Waxman and the handful like him (willing to do some work), they will push back.

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16. catnip - 10 July 2009: Freeganism. I learn something new every day…

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17. marisacat - 10 July 2009: hmmm just heard off the bbc… ”10 uk mil dead in 9 days in afghanistan”.

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18. marisacat - 10 July 2009: Oh too funny. Aravosis has a piece up that the DOD is thinking of banning all smoking in the ranks. Pretzel? Stopped yet?

http://www.americablog.com/ its about 5 down..

And via Americablog I landed on this…

Do pundits hear themselves? Not that it matters what any of them says… it all jsut drools on………

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catnip - 10 July 2009: And via Americablog I landed on this…

lol…apparently Mr Brooks doesn’t know how to remove himself from uncomfortable situations. Or maybe that just speaks to the fact that some so-called journalists really will do anything to get a morsel of a story.

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: He allowed his thigh to be kept warm by a R hand.. lest he give offense, is my guess. And, maybe he just liked it. Felt all safe and cuddly.

Etc.

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catnip - 10 July 2009: Felt all safe and cuddly.

Or that tingling Chris Matthews likes to mention.

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19. marisacat - 10 July 2009: Margaret Warner on PBS The New Hour is saying that the media is being told that Ob ”deeply identifies” with Catholicism… and sees his visit with Benny as far more than a “bi lateral state meeting”… he has been “profoundly affected” by Catholic teachings, they are reminded he attended a Catholic school in Indonesia (He is Indonesian! he is a Catholic!) and yada yada yada mumbles about Catholic Social Justice yada yada.

I did just see a pic of Ob and assembed wiht Benny. The Obama wimmens were wearing full on lace, black lace mantillas. To below the shoulders.. and one to nearly mid back.

GOOD LUCK!

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20. marisacat - 10 July 2009: From moiv:

By Philip Pullella and Jeff Mason Philip Pullella And Jeff Mason – Fri Jul 10, 2:44 pm ET

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict on Friday that he would do everything possible to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Vatican said.

Obama and Benedict held private talks for about 40 minutes in the pope’s frescoed study in the Vatican’s apostolic palace and the Vatican said bioethics and life issues were a central part of the discussion.

In a surprise move, the pontiff gave Obama a booklet explaining Vatican opposition to practices such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research, which Obama supports.

“Obama told the pope of his commitment to reduce the number of abortions and of his attention and respect for the positions of the Catholic Church,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters after he was briefed by the pope.

Obama supports abortion rights and says his policy is to change economic and social conditions so as to put more women in situations where they do not feel they have to have an abortion. snip those rights

I have to laugh.. ema, a OB-GYN, at A Well Timed Period called it in the primaries and later in the GE, he is FUNDAMENTALLY opposed to abortion. If you listen to him.

The White House said Obama wanted to work together on a range of issues with the Vatican.

“He is eager to find common ground on these issues and to work aggressively to do that,” said Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser, adding that there may be some issues where they cannot come to agreement.

POPE IMPRESSED BY OBAMA

Lombardi said the pope was “very impressed” by Obama and that the pontiff was “extremely satisfied” with the talks.

Obama told the pope during a picture-taking session after the private part of the audience: “We look forward to a very strong relationship between our two countries.”

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21. moiv - 10 July 2009: Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon: Another day, another abortion party

I hadn’t heard of an abortion party until today. That’s despite growing up in the liberal sanctuary of the San Francisco Bay Area and attending a passionately feminist women’s college. I’ve seen women unabashedly announce “I had an abortion” to friends and strangers alike, out loud and on T-shirts and bumper stickers, but an abortion party is an entirely new concept to me.

[snip]

Author Byard Duncan explains that for a donation at the door, friends were invited inside to “partake of baked goods, beer and dancing.” … Surely only inflaming already irate antiabortion readers, he describes how someone “had taken a red bed sheet and hung it below a light fixture to resemble a giant womb” — just above the dance floor. It’s like they’re dancing on the fetus’ grave.

What to make of all this? Part of me is inclined to examine my supreme discomfort with the idea of a lighthearted abortion hoedown in light of my strong pro-choice beliefs. A much larger part of me, however, suspects I’d be falling victim to what seems a calculated and manipulative caricature of this particular party. So, I decided to toss it to some of my fellow Broadsheeters for their take.

Mary Elizabeth Williams: I can’t speak for the author’s intentions, but the story reads like it was calculated to provoke the most apoplectic reactions of the right. The wimmins are celebrating baby killing, and men aren’t welcome!

Is that the sound of Bill O’Reilly rubbing his palms in glee I hear?

[snip]

There is an air of calculated outrageousness to the whole thing — Maggie’s blasé attitude, the womblike atmosphere of the fete, the tone of the story itself. There’s enough outrage in the world already, so I don’t really feel like taking the bait.

I’d rather just use my energy to continue to champion the right of women — and their partners — to have safe, affordable, accessible options.

Lynn Harris:I’d want to be careful about saying everyone should handle the decision (one that was to this woman, a very clear and simple one) with funereal solemnity — there’s a degree to which that further stigmatizes the procedure.

That said … party? Tacky. Not necessarily because it’s glib about abortion, but because it’s glib about friendship. If you don’t have the money for the procedure and we all know that many women don’t, perhaps an among-friends “fundraiser” would be more gracefully conducted with a personal PayPal account and a delicately worded e-mail or quickie Web site whose URL is shown only to a select group. Not because the abortion itself should necessarily require such hush-hush discretion, but because, man, asking your friends to pony up at a party is putting them in a weird, public position. Because while we generally tend to hang out with folks of similar political stripes, that doesn’t mean we know how each individual feels about abortion. (Like, maybe there’s someone who believes it should be legal but would not have — or abet — one herself? Is she going to feel pressured to attend or contribute, like a “bad friend” if she doesn’t? Of course the ultimate decision is the “bad friend’s” problem, but I’m saying it’s not right to put her in that position to begin with.)

[snip]

Kate Harding: I can’t get past the fact that so much of this article echoes anti-choice framing about liberal, pro-choice women.

[snip]

As for the party itself, I agree with Lynn that it rubs me the wrong way from an etiquette standpoint, but not just because being asked to subsidize an abortion might make some friends uncomfortable. More generally, when did house parties become fundraisers? In my day, if you couldn’t afford to offer dinosaur ribs and libations to all your friends, you threw a BYOB potluck — you didn’t charge a freakin’ cover to get into your living room. I just fundamentally don’t like this idea that we’re all entitled to hand our friends a bill for the pleasure of our company.

[snip]

It would be lovely if everyone who shared my basic political beliefs would also behave exactly as I would in every situation, so I’d never have to feel uncomfortable about anyone making “us” look bad. Unfortunately, I live in the real world. I hate that this story is only going to reinforce anti-choice and anti-feminist stereotypes, but as a pro-choice feminist, I can’t condemn it as anything other than arguably tacky.

Amy Benfer: I absolutely and emphatically agree with all that has been said here: The piece feels like the worst-case scenario of anti-choice propaganda; … and I think a discreet Pay Pal account is way more appropriate than having to throw an abortion kegger.

But this just underscores something wrongheaded about abortion policy in the first place: To wit, why does a 22-year-old college senior have to throw a kegger, invite all her friends, and make a public spectacle out of her personal choice in the first place? Shouldn’t she just be able to cover the $400 procedure under her college health plan just like she would do for a tonsillectomy?
……… It will be a great day indeed when a college senior doesn’t have to throw a kegger to fund her abortion.

Tracy Clark-Flory, Lynn Harris, Kate Harding and Amy Benfer team up to confirm everything that women of color — and low-income women in general — have historically alleged about privileged white feminists: i.e., “It’s all about me and my friends.”

Do these pro-choice writers celebrate the fact that a young woman and her friends have done what all four claim to endorse, in approaching abortion as an honorable choice that just happens to cost a little more than what this young woman has in the bank? Far from it: “It’s like they’re dancing on the fetus’ grave.”

Apart from ignoring the long-standing tradition in communities less elite than their own of throwing fund-raising parties for occasions ranging from paying the rent to bailing a brother-in-law out of jail, they recommend the less “glib” and more socially considerate option of “a personal PayPal account and a delicately worded e-mail or quickie Web site whose URL is shown only to a select group.” They might be surprised to learn that many of the women who most need help paying for an abortion (and the friends who might be able to help out with an extra $20.00) don’t even have a computer, let alone the money for a reliable Internet connection or the necessary skills to set up a Web site or a PayPal account in the first place.

A party to raise money for an abortion is “tacky?” Wake up, grrls; in the real world, Miss Manners don’t do abortion. And given the increasing difficulty of raising money in our ever-worsening economy — with the result that the national-level abortion funds are broke, as in busted — individual fund-raising parties might just be an idea whose time has come.

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22. marisacat - 10 July 2009: isn’t this typical “Salon” tho… underscoring and underpinning the biases and needs of their slice of a narrow slice of life?

Tiem to troll out that … I forget which one! ….but from what I have heard, one of the Bush girls has had two abortions. Frankly who cares. But I would guess Daddy and Mother Laura paid for both. Or perhaps at 18 they got an “income” from a trust, sufficient to pay cash and not have to ask.

So…

Who goes to the village square for the thumb screws first? The also young, also dependent nobody. Who had the utter uncouth gall to give a BYOB party and leave a hat on the table or by the door or somewhere.

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moiv - 10 July 2009: Not that there’s anything wrong with that, except that it’s tacky, and it makes us look bad (“us” who will never have to ask our friends for help), and oh gawd yes, Bill O’Reilly might read it and get disgusted.

I got disgusted, too, so I went over to Salon and posted a letter.

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23. marisacat - 10 July 2009: An email alerted to this diary. All I can say is, yeah and it ain’t new …

[B]ut you have got to be freaking kidding me if you think that the recent sexist behavior I’ve observed on this liberal blog is somehow OK. Some of you guys need a serious goddamned wake-up call: you are talking to and about women the same way Republicans do!

What.the.fuck.

I also took a look around for the first time in a year or so (I do follow links from here but … usually don’t look around).. gah. And more gah… is all I can say.

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catnip - 10 July 2009: If only that diarist would get off the Obama is my personal saviour train, perhaps I’d have a tad more respect for her.

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: send her a mantilla. To the ground.

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24. moiv - 10 July 2009: Here’s Sister Michelle with clasped hands, modestly adorning the background in her designer mantilla.

Her Mafia widow ensemble makes the perfect foil for Papa’s splendor.

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: Mafia widow.. gosh that hits it…

there is a pic that i saw on The News Hour… that i have nto run into.. a line up of ”the group” … obama and others, Gibbs was there… Benny in the middle iirc… and Michelle, her mother and their firend or relative who is the godmother to the girls.. ALL THREE wore overwhelming, long, black mantillas.

I think in all honesty they should have gone for the whole look, slap it over the face too. Get it over with.

What a scene. I felt shot back decades.

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25. moiv - 10 July 2009: Irish Women Challenge Abortion Ban

Three Irish women are challenging Ireland’s abortion ban in the European Court of Human Rights. Ireland has restrictive laws that prevent abortion in almost every circumstance except when a woman’s life is in jeopardy. The three women claim in their lawsuit, ABC v. Ireland, that their well-being and health was threatened by the strict ban. Their suit is the first direct challenge of Irish abortion law. Due to the stigma associated with abortion, the women have chosen to remain anonymous and are referred to as A, B, and C in court documents.

All three women traveled to England to have an abortion. Over 7,000 women yearly travel from Ireland to obtain legal and safe abortions, according to RH Reality Check. The Irish Family Planning Association, which represents the women, argue that the necessity to travel to obtain safe and legal abortion is direct discrimination based on sex and financial status. Other violations of the European Convention of Human Rights include right to privacy in all family, home and personal interest and their right to be free from inhumane and degrading treatment.

A decision from the European Court of Human Rights in ABC v. Ireland is expected soon. In 2007, a similar case brought to the same Court by a Polish woman resulted in the court instructing Poland to change its abortion laws, according to the Irish Times. Historically, there has been strong opposition within largely Roman Catholic Ireland to legalizing abortion.

/don’t anybody tell Poppa Ratzy

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marisacat - 10 July 2009: they’ll be re-opening the Magdalene Laundries….

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26. marisacat - 10 July 2009: gnu

LINK

……………. 🙄 ……………

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